A flier that began circulating Sunday on the Bates College campus in Lewiston suggests students must register their motor vehicles and update their driver’s licenses to vote in Maine. Photo courtesy of Maine Democratic Party

Maine’s secretary of state Sunday denounced what he characterized as an effort to discourage students at Bates College from voting in Tuesday’s election.

Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said a flier that began circulating Sunday on the Bates campus in Lewiston suggesting students would be required to register their motor vehicle and update their driver’s license in order to vote was false.

“Your status as a student is a neutral factor in exercising your right to vote,” Dunlap said Sunday night. “If you are residing in a community while matriculated as a student and wish to vote, you can do so.”

Dunlap explained that once individuals consider themselves to be residents of a community, they will eventually need to take steps, such as updating their driver’s license or registering their motor vehicle. But he added “there are no statutory triggers that take place that compel you to pay excise taxes immediately on your vehicle in that town.”

The Maine Democratic Party also weighed in on the controversy, referring to the Bates fliers in a news release Sunday evening as an attempt at “voter suppression.”

“The false information contained in these fliers is a deliberate attempt to suppress the millennial vote. There is nothing in Maine law that states that college students must change their driver’s licenses in order to vote,” Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett said. “In fact, the Secretary of State’s Office has made explicitly clear that a dorm can be a student’s legal voting residence and that paying out-of-state tuition does not preclude a student from voting.”

The flier, which was discovered Sunday by Bates student Sarah Frankie Sigman at the Commons, Bates’ dining hall, said those who choose to register to vote in Lewiston must pay to change their driver’s license and re-register their motor vehicle within 30 days – a process the flier’s author claims could cost a student “usually hundreds of dollars in total” when the cost of a state motor vehicle inspection is added in.

“Would like to call attention to the 30 plus disgusting signs my friends and I removed from the dining hall and the doors of a dorm this afternoon. If you see any more please take them down and if you see someone putting them up call Bates security,” Sigman wrote on her Facebook page. “You can register at the polls on Nov. 8 in Maine and Lewiston is a make or break district!”

Dunlap explained that voting in the election is entirely separate from registering a car or changing the address on one’s driver’s license.

“Voter registration is not affected by where you register your car,” Dunlap said in a telephone interview Sunday night. “This flier is pure politics. They’re using it to try to scare college kids from voting.”

He said that all a Maine college student who is not from the community where he or she attends school has to do to vote is to register with the local city or town clerk.

In the case of a Bates student, the student would register with the Lewiston city clerk, who in turn would notify the clerk in the student’s hometown that he or she had voted, eliminating what Dunlap called double dipping.

A voting residence fact sheet published by the Maine Secretary of State’s Office also lends clarity to the issue. It says college students have the right to register to vote in the municipality in Maine where they attend school.

“You can establish a voting residence at your Maine school address if you have a present intention to remain at that address for the time being, whether that address is a dorm, apartment, house or even a hotel,” the fact sheet says.

Kristen Muszynski, spokeswoman for the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, said in an email: “Students can choose to define their residency as either their school address or previous home address, whichever is the one they consider to best fit the definition of residency for their personal situation.”

Rabideau lived in Lewiston last summer and considers Bates and the city her home, at least for the time being.

Voter suppression “has been a trend for a while here – people trying to dissuade students from voting in an election. We’re pretty frustrated,” said Rabideau, who is co-president of the Bates College Democrats Club.

Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, said some people have unfairly accused Republicans on social media of being behind the fliers. Savage said that is just not true.

“It makes no sense to accuse us of doing it. It is coming out of left field,” Savage said. “People are throwing daggers at us and we had nothing to do with it.”

Savage said the flier’s claims are misleading.

“I don’t think anyone has to change their driver’s license to vote on Tuesday,” he said.

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reallly??

so which charlie was It ? charlie webster or charlie summers?? Jason, they are the reason…. the GOP is the likely suspects. Come on jason, come clean, which of the two charlies was it? How quickly and conveniently the right “forgets” what they have done or tried to do . Heck feel flattered , Trump even adopted the charlies “bus theory” OMG they are bussing hispanics to THEIR polling place and keeping it open “special ” for them. ,WE are keeping a very close eye on the GOP ,this election, Jason!!! Can we see YOUR emails Jason?? Crooked GOP!! Of course it was the GOP They are the only ones with a LONG history of trying to supress the vote.. especially student votes ..did you forget that whole fiasco of the two charlies ??

Lil Devil

Black Panthers are liberal, not GOP.

reallly??

why would a black panther leave the note??silly lil devil ?

gorehound13

Charlie……………………the jerk who said we were being invaded by blacks voting for Obama and then one day later he apologized and walked his BS comment back.
Screw The GOP…………….there is a lot of proof that they engage in cheating tactics…………..dirty fighting to win an Election.

Triad

Right outta the GOP playbook, as evidenced in Ohio, NC, etc..

reallly??

Should be easy enough to find the printer …and thus the culprit .

mr618

Probably run off in somebody’s apartment on the PC.

reallly??

and? I suspect a lot of printers are being dumped, as I type ….

mr618

Naw, probably just one.

reallly??

where did you dump it?

mr618

I don’t have to intimidate voters. My side’s gonna win.

BHShaman

Yep. With the right resources. Most printer prints a unique ID on the paper.

“Most color laser printers and color copiers are designed to print invisible tracking codes across every single printed page of their output. These codes reveal which machine produced a document and, in some cases, when the document was printed or copied.”

gorehound13

Exactly.The GOP are a big threat to this World and to our way of life.

Devonshade

More fascist right wing rethuggery. No surprise there. The rethuglican party can’t win on issues. They have to lie and cheat to win.

xcalibur1066

This was most likely faked by Democrats. You know like the paid fake “victims” of violence at Trump rallies. The Clinton campaign coordinated with the Clinton PAC to hire professional agitators. But you don’t have any issues with that type of lying and cheating do you?

You say Rebulicans can’t win.. which party controls the Senate? Which party controls the House? Which party has more governors? Which party controls more state legislative bodies?

I continually amazed at how little you know about the topics you post on.

reallly??

like the guy they just beat up for being an R with an anti-trump sign …then calling “gun” on him??

and they had to gerrymander the heck out of districts, close and reduce the number of polling places (see all those lines?) , reduce and change polling hours, reduce early voting days and hours , end “souls to the polls” sunday voting, purge voting lists and push other voter supression laws to achieve it…

reallly??

or supress the voter turnout

TheRightway

Only a Democrat would be stupid enough to believe it

Mike Lange

This also could have been a hoax generated on campus, so let’s not get into the tinfoil hat conspiracy theories. No Republican in their right minds would put out a flyer like this.

UserInterface

I guess Charlie Webster is not in his right mind. This is right out of his playbook in Farmington where he tried to suppress UMF students’ vote.

Bob Rossi

And here I thought it was LePage. He’s certainly not in his right mind.

UserInterface

Apparently it is LePage too trying to perpetuate the lie about student voters. His indecency knows no bounds.

reed1v

Ah come on, as college kids, it was common to vote in different states during election time. One of the reasons Kennedy won was folks voting a lot, and not just the dead folks.

UserInterface

Bull puckey.

reed1v

That is an old term, thus you are probably old enough to remember how Daily resurrected the dead to vote in Chicago and how Philly routinely had more votes than registered voters in its elections.

Stephen Simpson

LOL!

reallly??

from the posts I see here ,most are not .they are highly susceptible to suspicion and suggestion

reed1v

Three Charlies. One got stuck on the MTA.

mr618

“No Republican in their right minds…”
Pretty much says it all right there. 100% oxymoron.

yellowkid49

No, nor would they try to close the polls with people standing in line waiting to vote.

reallly??

BUT the chair of the Nevada GOP did try!! So did trump –roll tape of both of them saying so on stage in Reno….

This, and perpetration of other lies about voting, should be felony offenses.

MaineCWP

If students claim residency in Maine on voter registration within 30 days they have to change their license and vehicle registration under current law to reflect the same.

jay fulton

What is Maine CWP?

oreo

CWP…..CCP……same diff.

reallly??

not what the SOS says Are you the other charlie??

mr618

The law isn’t what they law says, the law is actually what the right-wingers wish it to be.

BHShaman

They is a correlation in the timing of when things should be done, not causal.
You can vote, and never appropriately register your vehicle and your vote still counts. You won’t be turned away at the polls.

The message is obviously crafted to imply one action is a requirement of the other and therefore is being staged in such a way as to influence voting behavior.

Hans Bryant

It appears that in Lewiston someone is, indeed, trying to “rig” the election.

rightwinga

“If you are residing in a community while matriculated as a student and wish to vote, you can do so.” says democrat Secretary of State Matt Dunlap.

They do and they also vote again in the state they are from! They vote here, change our laws and after graduating leave Maine and stick us to live with their liberals laws!

A nonresident student should never be allowed to vote as a resident in Maine! This is voter fraud perpetuated by democrats!

This law must be eliminated for a fair election!

jay fulton

Large claims require big proof. What proof have you that students vote twice, and always against your beliefs? Are you crying wolf? If you have no proof, how do we know you’re not just spamming us with your fears?

Stephen Simpson

There IS no proof, but if one ‘alleges’ something often enough, there’s sure to be some RWNJ who will ‘come to believe’.

Stephen Simpson

A clear example of GOP voter suppression…..

Maybe we should return to the days when only those who owned land could vote; and let’s not forget women; maybe all of them shouldn’t be allowed to vote; or maybe raise the age to 21 – after all, what do 18-year-olds know?

gorehound13

Sounds like something the ignorant GOPers would do……………..they sure are crazy nowadays so one never knows.

PPHisbiased

Have you looked in the mirror lately

PTSILS

Would you like some Maine cheddar with that whine? You sound like a two year old. The law is the law whether you like it or not.

reallly??

charlie is that YOU??

Bob S

Can you cite specific examples of where this has happened, besides ancedotes? Them are some serious allegations my friend…

yellowkid49

He has none.

gorehound13

He has nothing cause he is a right wing troll.

bobb04106

” after graduating leave Maine” — I wonder why? Maybe after getting an education, they see what opportunities there are to use their brains, and they decide that the best choice is to get out and leave Maine, and its governor, to its own backwards attitudes.

Scott Harriman

No, they vote in only one place. Please read the article before commenting.

“In the case of a Bates student, the student would register with the Lewiston city clerk, who in turn would notify the clerk in the student’s hometown that he or she had voted, eliminating what Dunlap called double dipping.”

reallly??

You know when the two charlies did their” invesitgation” of voter fraud? guess what they found ?? two old geezers voting twice, both were registered R’s.

One of them voted for himself and then voted for his daughter via absentee ballot.. The problem was she was away at school in farmington at the time and decided to vote for herself !!!! OOOPS ….
The other guy owned a piece of land that happened to be in two municipalities He though that “entitled” him to vote in Both municipalities.. He wasn’t !!

yellowkid49

But if it was found that students were voting for republicans, you would be fine with it.

rightwinga

No…Not at all! ANY voter fraud should be dealt with harshly!
That is the difference between conservatives and democrats!

yellowkid49

Get back to us when you have some evidence that it is actually taking place, unlike the voter suppression that is happening.

Donald Christie Jr

Did you not read, rightwinga,that an out-of-state student resident would be registering with the Lewiston City Clerk, who, in turn, would inform his/her counterpart in that student’s home district of the vote, so as to prevent “double dipping”? It’s not the Pony Express era, anymore.

gorehound13

We are ne3ver going to let you GOPers screw up our Elections in Maine.Get away from our Vote.We do not have fraud here.We know you people are liars and all over the nation slowly but surely Courts are ruling against GOP Voter Suppression.
Go take your paranoia elsewhere !!!

rightwinga

Sorry chummy…it is a known fact that democrats cheat! It will be stopped soon!

Budbear

The idea that you know any facts is laughable. Oh, and your continuous misuse of exclamation points make you appear to be a drooling conspiracy monger. Is that also a known fact?

mr618

“Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, said some people have unfairly accused Republicans on social media of being behind the fliers. Savage said that is just not true.”
Really?
Given that all the other voter suppression tactics — reduced hours, closed polling places, voter ID, etc — are all being pushed by Republicans, and given the fact that college students tend to vote Democratic, I find it very easy to be believe the Repubs are behind it.

strommy8

desperate times call for desperate measures I guess, and they are as pathetic as you get with zero credibility and a miserable future as a major party in the US until the losers and fearful alt right crowd is weeded out to form there own fringe party of fellow LOSERS

gorehound13

I would not doubt one bit that the GOP would do this.At this point they have fallen straight down to the gutter.I believe they would do almost anything at this point and we adults must vote them out.
VOTE BLUE

xcalibur1066

If a person is stupid enough to fall for this, perhaps they are too stupid to vote.

Aren’t these young adults supposed to be be some of our nation’s best and brightest?

reallly??

expand the picture … at the bottom. It suggest it is from the SOS office and provides a statute number .impersonating a guvernemnt office is probably illegal … I wonder if this is a national effort to suppress the student vote

xcalibur1066

So the students at Bates are stupid and are unable to verify state registration laws? I guess they don’t have the internet at Bates.

xcalibur1066

These are the same people who fell for the online gag of using the microwave to dry a cellphone.

bobb04106

YOUR gov lieplague agrees with what is written in that flyer. So he must be pretty stupid too.

gorehound13

We all know by now that the Republican Party has gone way out on the limb passing various laws that do in fact disenfranchise voters.There is a lot of proof this is done purposely so they can cheat at Elections.The day is coming when we will get them back for the garbage they are pushing.And when we are on top again we will restore the Voting Rights Act that GOPers trashed and remove the 2 SCOTUS Cases which now caused a flooding of big money into politics…………..CU & More done by the GOP.
They will use whatever they can to win Elections…………….dirty does not matter to them.
I bet a GOPer did that flyer.VOTE BLUE……………..remove the Republican Trumphead Party.

reallly??

and they are loosing court cases all over the place on their voter suppresion scheme. They are fooling no one, especially the court that said … they targeted the african population’s votes with “surgical precision” ..

spudman2

The word on the street is that Charlie Webster was seen on the Bates campus wearing a blonde wig and a blue pantsuit. Who are the Repugs trying to fool?

PiedPundit

Hilarious. That flyer is completely factual. IF YOU CHOOSE to register to vote in Maine, you are declaring residency. With that declaration comes responsibility, such as registering and inspecting your vehicle in accordance with Maine law.

It doesn’t say if you want to vote you must register your car. It says if you vote the. You’re going to have to register your car within 30 days. These people are in COLLEGE why can they, and many of the people commenting on this story, not seem to know how to read?

reed1v

No one registers their cars in Maine. Always in New Hampshire to avoid taxes. Good for the adults, good for the kids.